Re: Background Sound

-----Original Message-----
From: Karen Stafford <webmaster(at)noteworthydesigns.com>
To: HWG Techniques <hwg-techniques(at)hwg.org>
Date: Monday, June 19, 2000 11:07 AM
Subject: Re: Background Sound


>This is quite a debate, because actually, a lot of visitors don't like the
music
>and want the option of turning it off. They might even dislike the load
time, in
>which case, you might want to ask your client what they want the
most.....Two
>options: put the ugly little box towards the bottom, thus giving visitors
the
>option of turning the music off, or just adding a link to the music, saying
>"Click here to hear......", giving fast load time, allowing people the
option to
>choose the music, and not losing those folks who want to get in and get out
and
>get their business done:-)
>


I agree with this 110%.  Give the audience the option of whether or not they
want to hear the sound, not whether or not they want to turn it off.  When
you're sitting through a quiet surfing experience and you are suddenly
assaulted with a sound/noise/fanfare you don't expect, it's sort of like
trying to stop a speeding car and accidentally hitting the gas instead of
the brake -- you're flying all over the site looking for the button to turn
it off.  This is especially inappropriate in an office setting, where --
believe it or not -- people sometimes <gasp> surf, either because it's their
job to ... or not....

I can not count the number of times I've heard people say that if they're
assaulted (in other words, no warning) by a sound on a website, they won't
return, no matter what the topic.  The glaring exception seems to be the
younger teen and pre-teen set, which thing that midis are the coolest thing
since Coke in a can.  This, however, is understandable.  I own one such
creature and he never ceases to broaden my insight...

Unless the sound is an integral part of the theme of your site (i.e., one of
our clients is a musician, so we use clips of his work, of course), you need
to find a compelling reason to use it.  Even with our client, the audience
has 100% control over what they are going to hear and when, even though we
could have opened the site with a tumultuous rip across the guitar and
people could have had at least reasonable expectation of such a thing,
considering the theme of the site.

I would be extremely interested in seeing a marketing survey with the
results of what sound does to an audience.

Sound -- like frames, javascript, and Flash -- is a cool thing, but should
be used wisely and with thought.  Apparently, you're thinking, though, so
you should do just fine. ;-)

---------------------
Karin Ransdell - kransdell(at)squishedmosquito.com
Escapade Development Team
Squished Mosquito, Inc.
http://www.squishedmosquito.com - http://www.escapade.org





-----Original Message-----
From: Karen Stafford <webmaster(at)noteworthydesigns.com>
To: HWG Techniques <hwg-techniques(at)hwg.org>
Date: Monday, June 19, 2000 11:07 AM
Subject: Re: Background Sound


>This is quite a debate, because actually, a lot of visitors don't like the
music
>and want the option of turning it off. They might even dislike the load
time, in
>which case, you might want to ask your client what they want the
most.....Two
>options: put the ugly little box towards the bottom, thus giving visitors
the
>option of turning the music off, or just adding a link to the music, saying
>"Click here to hear......", giving fast load time, allowing people the
option to
>choose the music, and not losing those folks who want to get in and get out
and
>get their business done:-)
>
>Wendy Loveless Miller wrote:
>
>> Without the "hidden=true" you get an ugly little icon that people don't
>> recognize.  Is there a slide or on/off kind of icon that can be used in
it's
>> place . . . something that makes it evident that this is where one clicks
to
>> control the music?  I've embedded music for the first time on a site at
>> http://www.olivialane.com and my customer doesn't like the little gray
box
>> that controls the music functions.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Wendy Miller
>> Web designer!
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Sue Bailey <sue(at)bartandsue.co.uk>
>> To: <hwg-techniques(at)hwg.org>
>> Sent: Monday, June 19, 2000 8:12 AM
>> Subject: Re: Background Sound
>>
>> > Please please don't put hidden=true... means that the little player
>> control
>> > thing is hidden, and even if you want to, you can't switch the sound
off!
>> >
>> > Sue
>> >
>> > > just add this it will play in all browers I.E. and Netscape !
>> > >
>> > > <EMBED SRC="yourfilename.mid" AUTOSTART=TRUE HIDDEN=TRUE>
>> > > <NOEMBED><BGSOUND SRC="yourfilename.mid"></NOEMBED>
>> > >
>> > >
>> >
>
>--
>Karen Stafford
>Noteworthy Web Designs
>http://www.noteworthydesigns.com
>

HWG hwg-techniques mailing list archives, maintained by Webmasters @ IWA